


Burnin'

by skuldchan



Category: Initial D
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-05
Updated: 2014-02-05
Packaged: 2018-01-11 08:04:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1170667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skuldchan/pseuds/skuldchan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the beginning, before the Red Suns and before Emperor, there were just Takahashi Ryousuke and Sudou Kyouichi.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Burnin'

In the beginning, before the Red Suns, before Emperor, there were only Takahashi Ryousuke and Sudou Kyouichi. They started off as classmates in school before Sudou's father got promoted in his company and the family moved away. They exchanged addresses, fell out of touch for years, meetings occasionally punctuated by a chance meeting, or through information exchanged through friends of friends. They never called and never wrote, but always seemed to remember the rumors, some second-hand snippet of what the other was up to, which middle or high school the other had tested into. So when they met on the mountain passes for the first time, seeking escape from the banalities of their everyday lives, neither of the two of them were all that surprised. 

Two years were spent in the shadowed galleries beneath the trees, just beyond reach of the headlamps of cars, but close enough to hear the squeal of brakes and smell burnt rubber. Sometimes they passed their time in the backseat, awkwardly exploring new-found desires that had very little to do with racing or driving technique. They drove together up and down the mountain passes during the night, urging each other forward with the roar of engines. To others, they were simply acquaintances, and neither cared much for the consequences when they passed beyond the boundaries of friends and slid easily into the territory of lovers and rivals.

One night at Irohazaka, just shortly after he'd taken a promising driver named Iwaki Seiji under his wing, Kyouichi finally took note of the murmuring of the galleries.

"Did you hear what everyone's been saying about Takahashi Ryousuke? He's gonna form his own team, and got his little brother into being a racer too and everything."

Seiji had never seen Kyouichi drive off like that, taking the hairpins at crazy entry speeds, pushing his misfiring system to the maximum on the straightaways. Kyouichi's LanEvo didn't stop when it go to the bottom of the slopes, it sped away and was said to be spotted that night on the slopes of Mount Akagi.

Ryousuke looked at him impassively as he climbed out of his LanEvo. A younger kid, some overgrown bleached-blond punk with an earring in his right ear gave him a nasty look that was just one shade more contemptuous than his likely usual expression. 

"What's this team talk I've been hearing about?" Kyouichi asked, without preamble.

Ryousuke didn't answer him, but instead turned his attention to his little brother. "Keisuke, go make a run down the mountain. I’ll meet you at the bottom."

Keisuke looked over Kyouichi once more, and sullenly climbed into his yellow FD. He took off with a passable hand-break turn and a cloud of smoke, the whine of the rotary engine fading quickly against the murmur of Lake Oono. Kyouichi snorted; way too early for that kid to be giving him those looks. 

"I'm starting a team, Sudou," Ryousuke said simply, after his brother left, and there was just the two of them left in the lot. "The news has been spreading for at least couple of weeks." 

“I don’t put much stock in rumors,” Kyouichi replied and then waited expectantly for a few moments for Ryousuke to offer him what he'd been wanting, like Ryousuke had already done countless times before. 

Ryousuke smiled, it seemed practiced--cold and unkind. Kyouichi had never wanted to punch him so much in his life. "The Red Suns practice here on Akagi. Your home course is Irohazaka. The gas and tolls alone would cost you a fortune. And Irohazaka has its own quirks; I don't believe that you've mastered all of them already."

Kyouichi opened his mouth to retort--some facts about his not insignificant financial means--but Ryousuke lifted a hand and cut him off. "If you say you want to join us because you just want to be with me, then I have nothing more to say to you."

Kyouichi lifted his arm for real, but his heart wasn't in it. Ryosuke dodged the blow easily, a smooth sidestep that left Kyouichi flailing at the air before him.

"Go back to Irohazaka, Sudou. You have the beginnings of your own team there. I heard you've come across a young man who drives a LanEvo too, just like the person he idolizes."

Then Ryousuke climbed into his white FC, and left Kyouichi there, staring at the afterimage image of red tail lights that had just disappeared around the first corner. Gritting his teeth, Kyouichi climbed into his car to follow suit, though the black LanEvo remained some distance on the tail of Akagi's white comet, their separation growing longer as the seconds and minutes ticked by with the shift of gears, the bite of the clutch, the rumble of the throttle. It would be a long time before Kyouichi would return to Mount Akagi again.

**Author's Note:**

> I originally wrote this at the beginning of 2006, but now that I've caught up on Fifth Stage, I wanted to go and dust off some of my old stuff, and see if I could improve on what I had. This is slightly different from the previous version, but I hope you still enjoyed it.


End file.
